Part One:
Conduct Research to Focus our Discussions over the Longer Term
By using new pollsters, new social marketing approaches and more face-to-face meetings with union members and unorganized workers alike, we can find answers to this cascading set of questions:
First, what do 21 st Century American workers – as opposed to late 19 th or 20 th Century workers -- want? What do they need?
Second, what are organized labor’s objectives? What can we do? Can we improve wages and working conditions even as we try to reform our society? Can we more effectively represent our current members at the bargaining table? Can we simultaneously grow our movement? Can we then connect with other constituencies and advocates and together lead the charge for broader societal change? Or must we focus on but one objective to the exclusion of all others?
Third, what should the AFL-CIO concentrate on doing? What must remain the sole prerogatives of its affiliates? What requires close and constant coordination?